What the Heck, Bobby?: Astros Minor League Recaps

Results for Monday, May 13, 2019

Let's play two in Cedar Rapids!

Round Rock 5, Oklahoma City 2

W- Kent Emanuel (2-1)
L- Kevin Quackenbush (1-2)
S- Ronel Blanco (1, 3 season)

RR home runs: Jack Mayfield (8, solo in 1st), Garrett Stubbs (3, solo in 7th), Nick Tanielu (4, solo in 8th)

The Express scored twice in the 7th to take the lead and got one more in the 8th to nip the Dodgers.

The two runs that Cionel Pérez allowed in his five innings came off a pair of solo home runs in the 4th inning. Overall, he allowed four hits (including the homers), walked two, and struck out five. Kent Emanuel struck out one over three perfect innings and Ronel Blanco earned the save in his Triple-A debut by allowing a hit and striking out two in the 9th.

Jack Mayfield smacked a solo homer in the 1st and Kyle Tucker tripled and stole home in the 2nd inning. Garrett Stubbs led off the 7th with a homer that broke a 2-2 tie. Alex De Goti followed with a double and came around to score on Derek Fisher's double. Nick Tanielu capped off the evening with a solo shot in the 8th. He and Stubbs both went 2-3 from the bottom of the order; Stubbs also stole two bases (4) and Tanielu stole his first base of the season.

Brady Rodgers will get the start as the Express look for the sweep. He'll take on Rob Zastryzny at 11:35.

Corpus Christi 4, Frisco 2

W- Carlos Sanabria (1-0, 3-0 season)
L- Esmerling Vásquez (0-2)
S- Kit Scheetz (2)

CC home runs: None.

The Hooks were outhit 8-6 but had more in the column that ultimately matters.

Brandon Bailey pitched 4.2 innings and allowed two runs on six hits, walked two, and struck out three. He left with the bases loaded in the 5th and Carlos Sanabria was summoned to extract him from this predicament, which Sanabria did successfully. Sanabria ended up pitching 2.1 innings, walking three and striking out one. Kit Scheetz allowed two hits and struck out three to earn the save.

Osvaldo Duarte led off the 1st with a walk. He proceeded to steal second, advanced to third on a deep flyout from Abraham Toro, and scored the first run of the night on a wild pitch. Lorenzo Quintana kept the 2nd inning alive by drawing a walk and he scampered home on a double from Aníbal Sierra. Frisco tied the game with a couple of runs in the 5th but Corpus managed to regain control by getting those two runs back in the 6th.

Josh Rojas got plunked to lead off the 6th; he then stole second, advanced to third on the errant throw down, and scored the go-ahead run on a Stephen Wrenn sac fly. Quintana walked again and advanced to third on Sierra's single; Sierra moved up to second on the throw from the outfield. Duarte popped out in foul territory but Chas McCormick kept things going by drawing a walk to load the bases for Ronnie Dawson, who walked in Quintana for the game's final run. Sierra finished 2-4, while Quintana walked twice and scored twice despite going 0-2.

Brandon Bielak goes up against Tyler Phillips at 6:15.

Salem 13, Fayetteville 6

W- Kutter Crawford (3-1)
L- Chad Donato (3-4)

Fayetteville home runs: Seth Beer (9, solo in 6th)

A couple of huge innings from the Red Sox sent the Woodpeckers to their doom; Salem only scored in two of the nine innings in this game, but they put up four in the 3rd and nine in the 7th to take game one of this series.

Seth Beer opened the scoring with an RBI single in the 1st. He then led off the 6th with a homer that cut Salem's lead to 4-2. Corey Julks ripped a two-run double and Jonathan Arauz drove in another run with a groundout in the 7th. Jake Adams smacked an RBI double in the 9th. Adams finished 3-5 on the night. Beer (solo HR, 2 RBI, 2 R), Julks (2 2B, 2 RBI), and Michael Papierski (2B, 2 R) all had two hits.

Chad Donato went five innings and allowed four runs on seven hits, walked three, and struck out eight. Salem teed off on Nick Hernandez and Jacob Billingsley. We'll just leave it there. Leovanny Rodríguez was technically the only Fayetteville pitcher to turn in a scoreless outing, but he also allowed the two runners he inherited from Billingsley to score. In 2.1 innings, Leovanny allowed three hits, walked one, and struck out four.

The Woodpeckers will try to recover from this beatdown at 7:00 Eastern.

Game 1: Cedar Rapids 9, Quad Cities 4

W- Josh Winder (2-1)
L- R.J. Freure (1-1)

QC home runs: Alex Holderbach (2, 2-run in 2nd)

After getting an entire weekend off due to circumstances beyond their control, the Banditos returned to action and saw their nine-game winning streak come to a close. Well, they had a four-day layoff, so there was probably some rust that needed to be shaken off.

Alex Holderbach launched a two-run homer in the 2nd and Enmanuel Valdez hit an RBI groundout and Jeremy Peña hit an RBI single in the 7th. Holderbach finished 2-3 in game one; he's finished with exactly two hits five times in his last ten games.

After a dominating start to his season, R.J. Freure hit the wall hard for the first time in 2019 as his ERA went from 0.49 to 3.74. Yeah, it was that kind of night for him. Again, we'll leave it there. Joey Gonzalez pitched the last 2.2 innings and technically had a scoreless outing, but the two runners he inherited from Freure both scored. Gonzalez allowed three hits, walked two, and struck out two.

Game 2: Quad Cities 7, Cedar Rapids 0

W- Matt Ruppenthal (2-0)
L- Austin Schulfer (3-2)

QC home runs: None.

The Banditos turned the tables on the Kernels in game two to earn the split.

Matt Ruppenthal allowed three hits, walked two, and fanned eight over 5.1 shutout innings and Jonathan Bermúdez struck out four over 1.2 perfect innings to complete the shutout.

Jeremy Peña opened the scoring with a two-run triple in the 3rd and scored when David Hensley hit into a fielder's choice. Hensley walked to lead off the 6th, advanced to third on a César Salazar single, and scored on a wild pitch. Marty Costes, who was just activated from the IL, ended up drawing a walk, and Ross Adolph followed by smacking a two-run triple. Peña tripled to lead off the 7th and scored the last run of the night on a Jonathan Lacroix sac fly. Both of Peña's hits in game two were triples; Austin Dennis went 2-4 and scored a run from the leadoff spot.

Cody Deason will take on Luis Rijo in game three of this series. First pitch is at 6:35.

Monday's Stars

All photos are from Jayne unless stated otherwise.